On the Making of the Heart
by Olivia V
Summary: Rommie reflects on her current relationship with Harper and her recent actions. Spoilers for TWG, ES, and AHFFF


Disclaimer: I don't own them. **POUT**  
Rating: R  
Title: On the Making of the Heart  
Summary: It helps if you have read "For the Purposes of Security". It's not necessary, but it will help you understand what's happening here a bit more clearly. Rommie reflects on recent actions and her current friendship with Harper.  
  
  
  
  
  
The Hegemon's Heart. A crystallized ventricle from the first Than Queen. White silicon with a red center. Complete with a Treasure map inside.   
  
Oh yes, I can read the Treasure map from the Heart off a holo image better than any calibrator you have out there, but I won't tell anyone on board because I know them. Even Dylan would insist on my making an image of it for official Commonwealth records. I have the mind of a planet in the body of an avatar after all. I know better. And I have a full compliment of emotions, like any sentient being out there, to boot.   
  
Emotions, complete with sorrow, pain, guilt, pride, and shame.   
  
Shame was my downfall the other night when I watched Harper masturbating and he caught me.   
  
Pride kept me from admitting to his face I had done so.   
  
Guilt and the fear of pain have been keeping me from admitting even to myself why.  
  
Sorrow... well, that just complicated everything.   
  
"Think you can help Harper while he creates the fake?" Dylan looked at me from behind his desk. His expression was curious. A mixture of expectation and apprehension.   
  
Dylan doesn't want to create a fake heart. He doesn't want to deceive anyone during the negotiations. I don't blame him really. We are not in the Commonwealth anymore. And I have learned, sometimes deception is necessary.   
  
But hey, if I had my way, I'd shoot them out of the sky and be done with it. It would give me something to work out my aggressions on. Maybe then my holographic counterpart would stop asking me to...  
  
"Are you sure we can trust them with the mission? I mean, you know their background as well as I do." It wasn't really true, however. I know we can trust them. I just don't want to face Harper after he caught me the other night. I really don't.  
  
Just thinking about how stupid I was not to leave when he started made me angry.   
  
Dylan sighed. "Rommie, it's been over a year. I think, except maybe for Tyr, that we can trust them. Especially Harper. He's got more reason than any of them to have us trust him after all."  
  
Shit. I hate these veiled references to Harper's infestation. He's given them names at this point as a defensive measure and Dylan still can't bring himself to say my engineer is infected and unless we help him, he'll die. I love Dylan, but when it comes to compassion, he can really be spineless.   
  
I really need to blow something up, I really do.   
  
I frowned. "If you say so. I'll go work on the necessary specs and set up the AG generator."  
  
"Great. Let's get to work."  
  
I got up from my seat and almost reached the door before I heard Dylan's voice again.  
  
"Rommie?"  
  
"Yes, sir?"  
  
"Everything alright?"  
  
I turned and looked at Dylan. He seemed genuinely confused by my attitude. "I'm fine, sir. Why?"  
  
"You just seem... distracted."  
  
Harper must not have told him what I've done. He seemed too, what was the expression, in the dark here. I wondered why ...  
  
"I'm just having some difficulty merging the data in the old backup. I'll be fine."  
  
  
***********************   
  
  
Well I can't destroy the drift or the Than fleet like I really want to. And I can't avoid Harper forever apparently.   
  
Maybe I can at least work on this AG generator and save myself some confrontation time with Harper. So here I am, the living embodiment of a High Guard Ship of the Line. Flat on my back, wearing a T-shirt, under a console with some of Harper's tools.   
  
I can see where Harper gets satisfaction out of taking apart and recreating pieces of me like this. I've seen what he's doing with the bridge and the sheer look of enjoyment as he works.   
  
Maybe I should redecorate every year. I think next year I'll convince Dylan to park me somewhere so that I can supervise a complete reconstruction of my slipcore engine room.   
  
I had completely lost my avatar's attention to my thoughts, instead of on this one calculation to align this part when I heard a voice above me.  
  
"Hey, does this mean I'm out of a job?"  
  
I peeked out from under the console. Harper. With the same grin from two nights ago. You know, if I aimed this wrench for his head and calculated the right force to apply my throw without killing him, I may just give him the goose egg he so deserves.   
  
Taking into account the fact that he tends to lean to the right by about 8.3 inches when ducking on average, of course.  
  
"I was multitasking and you were busy fixing Command. I do that you know."  
  
"Yeah, still doesn't explain why the temperature in my quarters dipped by like, 40 degrees early the other morning, now does it?"  
  
I hate this man... "I'm sorry the temperature wasn't to your liking. I'll run a diagnostic on the temperature control systems as soon as I'm done with this modification."  
  
I detected movement as he knelt down. "I decided to take a lunch break and Dylan said you need me for another project. He filled me in and I'm game. Scoot over."  
  
"Excuse me?"  
  
"Scoot over. We can both fit under there, and then I can help you." I felt his arm brush against my side as he settled into position next to me. It was a tight, but he was right, we both do fit under this console. "Pass me that calibrator."  
  
I wondered when did his proximity begin to bug me like this as I handed him the calibrator. He got to work doing by hand what I should have been able to do with my mind in milliseconds.   
  
Except I keep feeling so mad that I want to blow something out of the sky. This can't be good.   
  
"Rommie, we need to talk about this you know."   
  
I turned to look at his face. His grin was gone, and he looked somewhat nervous. "I already told you, I detected an elevated heart rate..."  
  
"I know what you told me. And I believe you were checking in on me at first. You've been doing it for weeks now." Harper turned over - with difficulty because of the tight fit, onto his side. "What I can't get is why you don't even want to admit to me you were at the very least curious about what I was doing. There's nothing to be ashamed of, you know."  
  
I took a deep breath and initiated privacy mode. I didn't want an official record of what else may be said in this conversation. I picked up the nano welder and began to fuse a wire to a circuit board. "Assuming I was curious, and I'm not saying I was, it's still not something I want to talk about. It's not relevant to the creation of the fake Hegemon Heart."  
  
Harper leaned a bit closer and I could feel his breathe on my cheek. I found it a little too stimulating for my comfort. "You know what I think, I think you don't want to admit it aroused you. I mean this is me we're talking about here. It's not like I'm Dylan or something."  
  
I shot him an angry look and forced myself not to use the nano welder on his head. Just in case I shut it off and put it down. I hate it when Harper was right on the button. The fact that he created this body meant he could read me like a book. It drove me nuts... "Do you know what I think? I think that if I ever responded to your advances you wouldn't know what to do with yourself."  
  
Harper gave me that childish grin of his again and settled on his back with another wrench. "Oh I can think of a few things I'd do."  
  
"Harper!!!"  
  
"Hey, I'm just saying I can think."  
  
I could feel my cheeks turning red. I really need to go blow something up. But no, Dylan wanted to negotiate the transfer of the Heart, which meant just in case we fail in those negotiations we need to create a fake one so the Than wont destroy that drift.   
  
So I ran a few calculations on what may work here to help my mood and get Harper off my back at the same time. The results surprised me and I blinked several times while recalculating. Oh dear. I couldn't possibly do that... then again it just may be crazy enough to work. I ran the calculations one more time. Seventy five percent probability that he'll freak out and drop the subject, twenty five percent that he'd respond positively and I'll make this situation much worse for me in the long run.   
  
And a one hundred percent probability I'll feel better about it either way in the short term.   
  
"Pass me a screwdriver, will you? This screw is loose." Harper was back into his work. I studied his face, noting how serene he looked. I hadn't seen that face in a while, even on Command, and I missed that expression.   
  
Three and a half weeks is a long time not to speak to your engineer except when you happen to be fighting with him over an attempted suicide and his catching you watching him masturbate.   
  
I suddenly didn't want to blow up anything.   
  
Except maybe for that drift and the Than fleet.   
  
"It's on your right." I leaned over him to retrieve the screwdriver, having to straddle him as I did so because of the tight fit under the console.  
  
Harper's blood pressure and heart rate elevated slightly. And I felt a telltale hardening in his groin as my thigh brushed against it while I moved over.   
  
I found myself liking the effect I had on him. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea...   
  
"Uh... Rommie? What are you doing?"  
  
He was blushing and I smiled innocently at him. "What you asked me to. I'm getting you that screwdriver."  
  
"Okay, so why are you sitting on me like this then?" He was practically squeaking. I chuckled.   
  
I shifted so that my groin pressed against his and I was almost sitting up. I wondered why I was liking the effect I had on him, or this feeling of this contact, so much. "You know, I've been thinking."  
  
A sharp intake of breath as his blush extended down his neck. "Ahhh..."  
  
I gave him a wide grin. The blood must have just left the speech centers of his brain. "Maybe you are right, maybe I was... curious when I watched the other night. I mean, it wouldn't have been possible for me to try certain things before you made this avatar for me. You think I should increase the data experiences?" I ran my fingers against his stomach, slowly inching downwards, and he flinched.   
  
"I... I think my lunch break is over," he stammered. I found myself a bit disappointed. Odd. This was unexpected.   
  
"Imagine that. It looked like you needed help with something." I got up and he practically bolted into a standing position, hitting his head on the console.  
  
"Uh, let me know when you are done with the console so we can start on that heart, Ok?" He ran out of the Machine Shop.   
  
I chuckled and scooted back under the monitor for what I hoped was peace. Unfortunately, my hologram appeared.   
  
"Do you have any idea what you just did?"  
  
I nodded at me. "Yep, I made a pass at Harper."  
  
"Are you insane?"  
  
"Before you have me dismantled, let me ask this. Do we still want to blow something up?"  
  
My hologram thought and smiled. "No."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"Because we're right."  
  
"About?"  
  
"His still finding me attractive. His still caring about me."  
  
I grinned at myself. Exactly.   
  
My hologram titled her head. "Does this mean you still won't try out..."  
  
"No."  
  
  
  
--End-- 


End file.
